Balla Fasséké is the archetypal jeli, or griot, of the Sunjata epic and the mythic ancestor of the Kouyaté, the great griot lineage whose name is glossed as 'there is a secret between you and me'. Assigned to the young Sunjata as his personal bard, he becomes the hero's voice, memory, and counsellor, and the keeper of the genealogies that bind the Manding clans. Sent as an envoy to Sosso and held captive by Soumaoro, he enters the sorcerer-king's forbidden chamber, discovers the sacred Sosso-bala, and cannot resist playing it; the song of praise he improvises so delights Soumaoro that the king claims him, and from this episode the Manding trace the origin of their balafon music and of the jeli's craft of praise. Restored at last to Sunjata, Balla Fasséké embodies the reciprocal bond between ruler and griot that the tradition holds to be the foundation of Manding society.